The field of the present invention relates generally to culinary implements. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a spatula that may be used to lift an item by either inserting itself between the item and the surface upon which the item rests or skewering the item. The present invention provides a novel and improved implement of such capability.
Grilling is a common activity. Generally, when doing so, one is handling a variety of different foods at one time, preferably employing the use of both a spatula to flip steaks or hamburgers and a fork to turn hot dogs or chicken or vegetables, for example. Keeping multiple tools handy and clean is certainly doable, but also challenging in many scenarios. Far better to incorporate both the scooping and skewering functions into a single implement.
The basic concept combining a fork function with a spatula function is not new. The patent literature includes disclosures of prior attempts at creation of such a combination implement, including, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,464,730, 4,768,819, 4,844,525, 4,955,971, 7,100,953 and US Patent Applications 2008/0030034 and 2013/0305893. Each of them presents complexity that takes away from the potential utility of such a combination implement. They each suffer from the complexity of moving parts requiring buttons or sliding elements to use one function of the combination tool over another. Such complexity loses the distinct and compelling usefulness of such a tool, leaving open the need for a culinary tool that simply and conveniently serves as both spatula and fork without need for any button, sliding element, or the like.
In the end, what is needed is a tool capable of being inserted between an item and the surface on which it rests and that includes a prong or two for skewering the item as an alternative mode of manipulating foods being cooked on a grill, as one example. The following description presents just such a solution to the want of a tool that combines the functions of spatula and fork requiring not a single moving part, not a single button, not a single sliding motion on the implement to make one or another function available.